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com  Pam  izmo  #t>bt> 

D^0bDfib3  + 


No.  47. 

HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS? 

THE  SOLDIER,  SICK,  SORROWFUL  AND  DYING. 


This  is  a  world  of  trials.  Who  is  there  that  has  not 
some  trial?  There  are  great  trials  and  small  trials;  but 
all  trials  are  more  or  less  hard  to  bear.  All  people  have 
their  trials ;  but  some  men  bear  their  trials  much  better 
than  others.  Some  see  nothing  but  chance  ;  others  see 
the  finger  of  God  in  their  trials.  Some  take  all  their 
trials  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  ;  others  never  think  of  mak- 
ing them  a  matter  of  prayer.  It  is  sometimes  easier  to 
bear  great  trials  than  small  ones,  because  it  is  easier  to 
see  the  hand  of  God  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter.  It 
is  easier  for  a  man  to  see  the  hand  of  God  when  a  wife 
or  child  dies,  than  when  wages  are  low  and  he  is  in  want 
of  work. 

Reader,  how  do  you  bear  your  trials?  Do  you  see  the 
hand  of  God  in  them  ?  Perhaps  you  are  a  clerk,  or  book- 
keeper, or  other  agent.  You  may,  all  at  once,  be  out  of 
place-y  and  that  not  from  any  fault  of  your  own.  You 
may  have  been  a.  long  time  out  of  situation,  and  know 
not  where  to  obtain  one.  You  go  after  a  place  that  you 
think  will  suit  you,  and  you  find  that  it  is  disposed  of. 
Or  you  may  have  been  so  long  out  of  place,  that  you  are 
glad  to  take  one  at  a  much  lower  salary  than  you  have 
had  before.  You  may  meet  with  many  trials  from  the 
lowness  of  wages,  the  scarcity  of  work,  the  dearness  of 
provisions,  and  many  other  causes.      You  may   have   a 


2  HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS  ? 

child  sick,  which   brings  much  expense  with   it;   or  you 
may  be  sick  yourself,  and  unable  to  work.     Your  house 
may  need  repairs,  and   you  cannot  get   them  done  ;   your 
rooms  may  be  filled   with  smoke,  and  the  rain  come  in 
at  your  roof.      Or   you    are    a    soldier.      You   have   left  a 
comfortable  home — a  father  or  mother,  or  both — sisters, 
relatives  and  friends — a  loved  one  ;   or  it  may  be,  a  wife 
and  family.      You  have  sacrificed  business  or  some  prof- 
itable pursuit.     You  are  called  to  the  endurance  of  lord- 
ships, toil,   travel,  hunger,   thirst,    insufficient  clothing, 
watchings-  often,    privations    manifold,    perils   on   every 
hand.      You   have    been  sick   and    without  comforts,  or 
even  suitable    food,  raiment  and  medicines.      You   may 
now  be   sick  and  sore  in  body,  and   homesick   in  heart. 
You  may  have  been  wounded  and  crippled  or  enfeebled 
for  life.      Or  you  may  now  be   perfectly  worn  out  by  the 
uneasiness  and  exhaustion  of  all  hope  of  active  service. 
Your  trials,  my  brave,  heroic  reader,  are  as  real  as  they 
are  numerous  and  constant.     They    are  hard    to   bear. 
They  eat  as  doth  a  cancer.     Every  one  sympathizes  with, 
and    would    gladly   relieve    you    if   within    their  power. 
Everyone  admires  the  noble  spirit  which  led  you  to  en- 
counter them  for  your  country's  honor.     But  no  one  can 
bear  them  for  you,  and  they  are  in  great  part  inevitable. 
A  soldier  by  the  name  of  Burgess  committed   suicide 
a  few  days  ago  in  the  ninth  South  Carolina  regiment. 
He    was   sitting    in    the    commissary   tent    at    the    time, 
guarding  the  provisions.    The  circumstances  go  to  show 
that  it  was  a  deliberate  act,  as  his  shoe  and  sock  on  one 
fcot  had    been   taken   off,  and   his    brains   blown   out  by 
placing  the  muzzle  of  his  gun  just  above  his  eyes.     His 
friends  could  give   no  reason   for  so   rash  a  step.      It   is 
supposed  that  he  was  tired  of  life,  and  had  concluded  to 
try  the  realities  of  another  world.     This  is  the   second 
instance,  in  a  few  days,  of  such  deplorable  waste  of  life. 


HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS  ?  3 

Men  in  war  become  more  reckless  of  their  lives,  and 
attempt,  through  a  mistaken  notion,  to  relieve  them- 
selves of  a  burden  too  heavy  to  bear. 
.  My  dear  reader,  whatever  class  of  life  vou  are  in, 
these  are  but  some  of  the  trials  to  which  you  are  ex- 
posed. 

How,  then,  do  you  bear  these  trials  ?     Do  you  see  the 
/land  of  God  in   them?     We  are  told   in  Scripture,  that 
not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground  without  God  ;  nay,  that 
the    very   hairs   of  our   head    are   all   numbered     How 
much   more,  then,  ought  we  to  see  God's  hand   in   such 
trials  as  I  have  just  mentioned.      No  servant  can  find  a 
place— neither  can  he  lose  a  place— except   God  so  order 
it.     No   laborer  can   be   out  of  work,  wages   cannot   be 
low,  work  cannot  be  scarce,  provisions  cannot  be  dear, 
neither  wife  nor  child  can  be  sick,  in  short,  no  accident 
can   happen,  no   trial  can   befall  us,  unless  God,  in   his 
wisdom,  has  so  ordered  it.     Reader,  are  you  able  to  see 
things  in  this  light?     I  hope  you  are.     It  will  make  you 
much  more  contented  under  trial,  and  much   happier  at 
all  times,  than  if  you  think  all  things  happen  by  chance, 
and  that  God   has  nothing  to  do  with  them.      But  I  will 
tell  you  one  thing:   you  cannot  see  things   thus— in  fact, 
you  cannot  be  a  happy  mm— unless  you  know  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  come  to  the  blood  of  His  cross  for  the 
pardon  of  your  sins. 

Reader,  do  your  trials  make  you  fiee  to  God,  and  to 
Jesus  Christ,  for  strength  and  comfort?  This  is  the  rea- 
son why  trials  are  sent  —  to  bring  the  soul  to  God. 
Sometimes  men  have  told  me  that  they  do  not  think  of 
God  and  eternal  life,  because  they  have  so  much  trouble, 
that  they  have  neither  heart  nor  time  to  do  so;  that  they 
have  been  in  such  distress  about  their  health,  or  their 
families— from  the  loss  of  work  and  the  want  of  money, 
that  it  drove  all  religion  out  of  their  heads.     Reader,  do 


4  HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS  I 

you  think  this  is  a  good  excuse?  Will  it  save  a  man 
from  judgment  in  the  last  day?  Think  you  that  the 
Almighty  will  excuse  a  man  for  saying,  "1  have  had  so 
much  to  think  of,  that  1  could  not  think  of  Thee?'''  Will 
trials  in  this  world  save  you  from  punishment  in  the 
world  to  come  ?  Will  tears  of  sorrow  put  out  the  flames 
of  hell?  Will  your  affliction  do  instead  of  the  cross  of 
Christ,  and  faith  in  His  blood  ? 

Reader,  who  can  help  you  to  bear  your  trials,  but  God 
only  ?  Who  can  help  you  out  of  your  trials,  but  He 
alone?  If  you  are  in' trouble,  this  is  the  very  reason 
why  you  should  go  to  God,  not  why'  you  should  turn 
your  back  upon  Him.  Would  you  stay  away  from  the 
doctor,  because  you  were  sick?  Would  you  refuse  to 
drink,  because  you  were  thirsty?  Would  you  turn  from 
the  shadow  of  a  tree,  because  you  were  tired,  and  heated 
with  the  noonday  sun?  Why,  then,  should  your  trials 
keep  you  away  from  God,  and  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is 
"as  an  abiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from 
the  tempest;  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place;  as  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land?"  Isa.  xxxii, 
2.  Does  not  Jesus  "  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in  sea- 
son to  him  that  is  weary?1'  Isa.  1,  4.  O,  reader,  what- 
ever your  trials  may  be,  depend  upon  it,  this  is  the  only 
way  to  have  help  to  bear  them.  Be  not  like  the  Israel- 
ites, who  hearkened  not  to  Moses,  when  he  went  to  com- 
fort them,  "  for  anguish  of  spirit,  and  for  cruel  bondage." 
Exod.  vi,  9.  But  listen  to  the  voice  of  Him,  who  says, 
"  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
T  will  give  you  rest.^  Matt,  xi,  28.  Now,  I  will  tell  what 
to  do.  When  you  are  in  trouble,  and  it  makes  you  rest- 
less and  unhappy,  instead  of  going  about  to  tell  it  to  your 
neighbors — instead  of  wandering  to  and  fro  in  a  sullen, 
despairing  mood — ah!  my  friend,  instead  of  going  to  the 
bar-room  or  the  bottle  to  drown  your  sorrows  in  drink,  go 


HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS  f  O 

into  your  closet;  and,  if  you  have  no  room  where  you  can 
be  alone,  go  to  any  spot  where  you  are  not  seen,  and  there 
fall  down  on  your  knees,  and  tell  God  everything  that 
distresses  you.  If  you  are  in  the  midst  of  your  family, 
or  surrounded  by  your  fellow- workmen,  and  cannot  retire 
into  secret,  lift  up  your  heart  in  the  midst  of  your  bosom  : 
God  can  read  the  thoughts  of  your  heart,  thouigh  you 
speak  not  a  word.  First  confess  your  sins,  praying  for 
mercy  through  Christ,  and  for  a  new  heart;  and  then 
make  known  to  Him  your  sorrows,  your  burdens  and 
your  cares. 

Does  He  not  invite  us,  "in  everything,  by  prayer  and 
supplication,  with  thanksgiving,  to  let  our  requests  be 
made  knoivn  unto  God?"  Philip,  iv,  6.  Oh  !  reader, 
try  this  plan  ;  and  "  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all 
understanding,  shall  keep  your  heart  and  mind,  th rough 
Jesus  Christ."  Ver.  7.  You  will  then  find  a  calm- 
ness shed  abroad  in  your  soul,  and  a  happiness  that 
nothing  else  can  give.  You  will  feel  much  more  con- 
tented than  if  you  had  spent  the  day  in  complaining  of 
the  hardness  of  the  times,  and  of  your  "  bad  fortune/' 
as  people  wrongly  call  it. 

Reader,  I  have  another  remark  to  make.  We  never 
lose  time — nay,  we  cannot  lose  anything  that  is  good — 
by  praying  to  God.  If  you  are  so  anxious  to  hear  of  a 
"  place,"  or  to  find  work,  or  to  go  aftea  anything  that 
you  wish  to  have — that  you  cannot  find  time  to  pray; 
or  if  you  think  that  this  would  be  a  loss  to  you,  you  are 
much  mistaken.  Are  you  more  likely  to  get  a  place,  or 
to  miss  it — to  have  work,  or  to  go  without  it — by  pray- 
ing to  God?  If  you  give  some  of  your  time  to  Him, 
cannot  He  return  it  to  you  with  interest?  Cannot  He 
make  all  things  go  smoothly?  Cannot  He  give  you  the 
desire,  and  more  than  the  desire,  of  your  heart  ?  Think 
you  that  your  work  will  go  on  the  worse,  because  you 


6  HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS? 

find  time  to  pray  before  you  go  forth  in  the  morning? 
Will  your  sleep  be  less  sweet,  because  you  have  prayed 
in  spirit  before  going  to  bed?  Again,  will  your  child 
die?  Will  your  horse  go  lame  ?  Will  provisions  be- 
come dearer?  Will  money  be  more  scarce — because 
you  pray  to  God,  instead  of  being  fretful?  Oh!  reader, 
the  only  way  to  be  happy,  the  only  way  to  bear  your 
trials  well,  is  to  take  them  all  to  the  throne  of  grace,  to 
tell  them  to  God,  the  Father  of  mercies — to  cast  them 
upon  Jesus,  the  sinner's  friend.  Trials  are  bitter,  and 
you  need  grace  to  sweeten  them.  Trials  are  heavy, 
and  you  need  grace  to  bear  them.  Trials  are  many, 
and  you  require  grace  to  lessen  them,  Oh  !  my  friend, 
where  will  you  find  all  this,  but  with  Jesus  the  mighty! 
Jesus  the  wise!  Jesus  the  good!  How  needful,  then, 
that  you  should  be  one  of  His  people,  one  of  His  jewels, 
one  of  His  lambs!  Then  shall  you  be  able  to  lean  your 
weary  head  on  His  bosom,  and  to  tell  all  your  sorrows 
into  His  ear.  But  how  are  you  to  be  one  of  His  people, 
a  sheep  of  His  pasture,  a  jewel  in  His  crown  ?  Sim- 
ply by  believing  on  Him.  Without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  God  (Heb.  xi,  0) ;  but  he  that  believeth  on 
Christ  hath  everlasting  life,  and  "shall  not  come  into 
condemnation,  but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life/'  John 
v,  24. 

A  most  touching  scene  took  place  in  the  affair  of 
Major  Hood,  at  Bull's  Run.  Among  those  mortally 
wounded  was  a  Northern  man;  he  was  shot  through 
both  hips  and  had  fallen  on  the  road,  where  he  was  dis- 
covered by  a  Louisianian.  He  was  suffering  the  most 
intense  pain,  his  face  and  body  distorted  by  his  agon- 
izing sufferings.  He  begged  for  water,  which  was 
promptly  given  him;  his  head  and  shoulders  were 
raised  to  make  him  more  comfortable,  and  his  face  and 
forehead   bathed  in  water.     He  urged  the  Louisianian 


HOW  DO  YOU  BEAR  YOUR  TRIALS?  7 

to  pray  for  him,  who  was  forced  to  acknowledge  his  in- 
ability to  pray.  At  that  moment,  one  of  the  Mecklen- 
burg troopers  came  up,  and  the  poor  fellow  urged  his 
request  again,  with  great  earnestness.  The  Virginian 
knelt  at  his  side  and  asked  the  wounded  man  if  he  was 
a  Christian,  and  believed  in  the  promise  of  Christ  to 
save  repentant  sinners?  He  answered,  yes.  The 
trooper  then  commenced  a  prayer,  fervid,  pathetic  and 
eloquent;  the  soldi.er's  face  lost  all  the  traces  of  his 
recent  suffering,  and  became  placid  and  benignant,  and 
in  his  new-born  love  for  his  enemy  attempted  to  encircle 
his  neck  with  his  arms,  but  only  reached  the  shoulder, 
where  it  rested,  and  with  his  gaze  riveted  on  the  face  of 
the  prayerful  trooper,  he  appeared  to  drink  in  the  words 
of  hope  and  consolation,  the  promises  of  Christ's  mercy 
and  salvation,  which  flowed  from  his  lips,  "  as  the 
parched  earth  drinketh  up  the  rain,"  and  as  the  solemn 
amen  died  on  the  lips  of  the  Christian  soldier,  the  dead 
man's  hand  relapsed  its  hold,  and  fell  to  the  ground, 
and  his  spirit  took  its  flight  to  unknown  realms.  The 
scene  was  solemn  and  impressive,  and  the  group  were 
all  in  tears.  The  dying  never  weep,  't  is  said.  Having 
no  implements  with  which  to  dig  his  grave,  and  expect- 
ing the  return  of  the  enemy  in  large  force,  they  left  him, 
not,  however,  without  arranging  his  dress,  straightening 
his  limbs,  and  crossing  his  hands  on  his  chest,  leaving 
evidences  to  the  dead  man's  companions  that  his  last 
moments  had  been  ministered  to  by  humane  and  Chris- 
tian men. 

May  you,  my  dear  reader,  learn  now  how  and  to  whom 
to  pray,  that,  in  dying  or  witnessing  others  dying,  you 
may  be  able  to  call  upon  Him  who  can  both  save  and 
soothe  you,  and  enable  you  to  comfort  others  with  the 
consolation  with  which  you  have  been  yourself  com- 
forted of  God. 


8  HOW    DO    YOU    BEAR    YOUR    TRIALS  ? 

Most  holy  and  righteous  God,  my  Heavenly  Father, 
Thou  hast  created,  preserved  and  blessed  me  all  my 
days,  yet  I  have  sinned  against 'Thee  ;  I  have  abused 
Thy  mercies  and  slighted  Thy  Jove  ;  I  have  been  a 
most  unfaithful,  ungrateful' and  rebellious  son.  Enter 
not  into  judgment  with  Thy  poor,  undeserving  servant; 
but  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.  Pardon  me,  O,  G6d, 
for  the  sake  of  Thy  dear  Sop.  Wash  me  in  y.is  blood, 
and  cleanse  me  from  all  my  sins.  Enable  me?  by  Thy 
Holy  Spirit  to  believe  with  all  my  heart  on  the  name  of 
Jesus.  O,  help  me  to  cast  myself  wholly  on  Thy  mercy 
i  in  Him;  and  for  His  righteousness'. sake  be  well  pleased 
with  me,  and  lift  Thou  up  the  light  of  Thy  countenance 
uprm  my  soul.  O,  spare  me,  thai;  I  may  receive-  strength 
before  I  go  hence,  and  be  no  more.  And  if  in  Thy 
great  mercy  it  shall  please  Thee  to  raise  me  from  my 
bed  of  sickness  and  languishing,  may  [  not  forget  to 
render  unto  the  Lord  according  to  the  benefit  done  unto 
me.  Give  me  grace  to  show  my  love  and  gratitude  by 
a  hearty  dedication  of  all  my  powers  to  the  service,  of 
my  blessed  Saviour.  Make  me  Thine,  wholly,  now 
and  for  ever.  But,  if  it  be  Thy  will  to  take  me  hence, 
show  me  the  path  of  life,  wash  my  soul,  sanctify  and 
justify  me  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  by  Tjiy 
Holy  Spirit;  a*id  bring  me  into  Thy  presence,  where 
there  is  fulness  of  joy,  and  give  me  a  place  at  VUy  right 
hand,  where  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore.  Hear  my 
cry,  O,  my  Father,  and  save  me  for  Jesus'  sake.    Amen. 


PUBLISHED    BY    THE    SOUTH    CAROLINA    TRACT  SOCIETY 

Printed  by  Evans  <fc  Cogswell,  No.  3  Broad  street,  Charleston,  S.  C. 


Hollinger  Corp- 
PH8.5 


